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Greymouth Star
World
8 - Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Maiduguri (Nigeria)
Suspected Boko Haram militants have
abducted more than 60 women and girls,
some as young as three, in the latest
kidnappings in north-east Nigeria and
over two months since more than 200
schoolgirls were seized.
Analysts said the kidnapping, which
happened during a raid on Kummabza
village in the Damboa district of Borno
State, could be an attempt by the
Islamist group to refocus attention on
its demands for the release of militant
fighters.
Boko Haram has indicated that it
would be willing to release the 219
schoolgirls that it has held hostage since
April 14 in exchange for the freedom
of its brothers in arms currently held in
Nigerian jails.
Nigeria initially refused to sanction any
deal but efforts have since been made to
open talks with the group, with a possible
prisoner swap part of discussions.
The military in Abuja said in a tweet
late on Monday it could not confirm the
latest abductions and spokesmen were
not immediately available for comment
when contacted overnight.
But a senior officer in the Damboa local
government, who asked for his name to
be withheld as he was not authorised
to speak on the matter, said: “O ver 60
women were hijacked and forcefully
taken away by the terrorists.
“The village was also destroyed,” he
said, adding that locals had fled their
homes to other parts of Borno and
across the State border into Adamawa.
“Among those abducted are children
between the ages of three and 12,” he
added.
Damboa local government officials said
they were afraid to speak out because of
the controversy surrounding the Chibok
abductions, with Nigeria’s government
coming under heavy criticism for its
slow response. — AFP
Boko Haram
abducts 60
Tokyo
Japanese scientists have unveiled
what they say is the world’s first
newsreading android, eerily lifelike
and possessing a sense of humour to
match her perfect language skills.
The adolescent-looking
“Kodomoroid” — an amalgamation of
the Japanese word “kodomo” (child)
and “android” — delivered news of an
earthquake and an FBI raid to amazed
reporters in Tokyo.
She even poked fun at her creator,
telling leading robotics professor
Hiroshi Ishiguro: “ You’re starting to
look like a robot!”
The pitch-perfect Kodomoroid was
flanked by a grown-up fellow robot,
who caught stage fright and fluffed
her lines when asked to introduce
herself.
“Otonaroid” — “otona” meaning
adult — excused herself after a
quick reboot, saying: “I’m a little bit
ner vous.”
Both androids will work at Tokyo’s
National Museum of Emerging
Science and Innovation, interacting
with visitors to collect data for
Ishiguro’s studies into human
reactions to the machines.
“ We will have more and more robots
in our lives in the future,” Ishiguro
said.
“ You can take my androids on planes
— the torso in the suitcase and the
head in carry-on .”
Ishiguro has a humanoid version of
himself which he sends overseas to
give lectures.
“It cuts down on my business trips,”
he said.
“ Technical advances mean robots
look and act more human, and that
makes us think about our worth.”
Otonaroid looked as if she could
need rewiring before beginning her
new role as the museum’s science
communicator, her lips out of sync
and her neck movements symptomatic
of a bad night’s sleep.
But Ishiguro insisted both would
prove invaluable to his continued
research as museum visitors get to
have conversations with the droids
and operate them as extensions of
their own body.
“This will give us important
feedback as we explore the question
of what is human,” the 50-year-old
said.
“ We want robots to become
increasingly clever.”
A chatty humanoid called Pepper
designed by Soft Bank as a household
companion is set to go on sale for
around $US2000 ($2305) in Japan
next year after a successful debut
earlier this month.
“That ’s the same price as a laptop
computer,” Ishiguro said. “ It’s
incredible.”
As the line between humans and
machines continued to blur, Ishiguro’s
mechanical newscaster performed
tongue-twisters, to the amazement of
their human counterparts.
“My dream is to have my own
television show in the future,”
Kodomoroid said. — AFP
Japan unveils android newsreader
Robotics expert Hiroshi Ishiguro, left, and Miraikan museum director
Mamoru Mori pose with Kodomoroid and Otonaroid at the press conference
held in Tokyo.
London
Rupert Murdoch could be
inter viewed by British police
over the phone-hacking scandal,
according to British media reports.
Detectives
reportedly first
contacted Murdoch in 2013 to
arrange to question him over
allegations of crime at his British
newspapers.
But they agreed to a request from
the media mogul’s lawyers to wait
until the long-running phone-
hacking trial was finished, The
Guardian newspaper reported on
Tuesday.
It said the inter view was expected
to take place “ in the near future in
the United Kingdom” and would be
conducted “under caution”. That ’s
the legal warning given to suspects.
Asked about the prospect of
Murdoch being questioned, a
Metropolitan police spokesman
said, “ That ’s not something we are
prepared to discuss. ”
The Guardian reported Murdoch’s
son, James, could also be questioned.
Former Murdoch confidante
Rebekah Brooks was cleared
overnight of all charges in a
dramatic end to the News of
the World trial that saw former
editor Andy Coulson convicted of
plotting to hack phones.
The jury delivered the verdicts
after eight days of deliberations
and nearly six months of evidence
sparked by the scandal that led
to News Corp boss Murdoch
shutting down the Sunday tabloid
in disgrace in mid-2011.
Coulson, 46, who was forced to
resign as British Prime Minister
David Cameron’s media chief over
the scandal, now faces jail following
his conviction at the Old Bailey in
London.
But the flame-haired Brooks, once
one of Australian-born Murdoch’s
closest aides, will walk free after
being cleared of conspiring to
intercept cellphone voicemails
and of plotting to pay officials for
information.
The guilty verdict for Coulson
increases the possibility that
Murdoch’s British company News
UK — formerly News International
— co uld be charged as a corporation,
the Guardian reports.
That could lead to charges against
the company ’s former board of
directors including Murdoch and
his son James.
Brooks gave detailed evidence
during the phone hacking trial
about life inside News International
and her dealings with Murdoch.
In mid-February she recalled one
of the first times the Australian
came to her office after she was
appointed deputy editor at News of
the World.
Murdoch’s advice was: “Keep your
head down. Don’t court publicity.”
Brooks revealed she wouldd
sometimes edit the Sunday paper
which meant taking a call from the
boss on Saturday night — wherever
he was.
“He would ask, ‘ What’s going
on?’ That was always his opening
gambit, and it was up to you to tell
him what was going on,” Brooks
said during her evidence.
“ He was obsessed by news, even if
there was a breaking story coming
out that didn’t feature heavily in
your paper. ”
What has been dubbed by some
as “the trial of the century” centred
on News of the World’s efforts
to hack the phones of Britain’s
royal family, politicians, celebrities
and victims of crime, including a
murdered schoolgirl and families of
people killed in the 2005 London
bombings. — A AP
Police may quiz Murdoch
Baghdad
Iraqi forces have held off attacks
on a key town and an oil refinery
as top United States diplomat John
Kerry pushed for unity in a conflict
the United Nations says has killed
nearly 1100.
But those successes were marred
when civilians were killed by
air strikes aiming to push back
Sunni Muslim insurgents, led by
the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL), who have seized
swathes of five provinces north and
west of Baghdad.
The onslaught has displaced
hundreds of thousands of people,
alarmed world leaders and put
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
under pressure at home and abroad.
After wilting in the first attacks
two weeks ago, loyalists appear to
be performing better, holding off
assaults at the Baiji oil refinery in
the north, the country’s largest,
and the strategic western town of
Haditha.
Repeated assaults on the complex,
which once provided some 50%
of domestic refined petroleum
products, have caused jitters on
world markets.
Brent crude for August delivery
added 2c to $114.14 a barrel in
London overnight.
Elsewhere, security forces and
allied tribal fighters saw off a
militant attack on Haditha in
Anbar province, after recapturing
the Al-Waleed border crossing with
Syria on Monday.
Iraqi forces also carried out air
strikes on the town of Baiji, outside
the refinery, and on Husseibah in
Anbar province, west of the capital.
State television said 19 “terrorists”
were killed in Baiji, but witnesses
said the casualties were civilians.
The UN said overnight at least 1075
people were killed and 658 wounded
between June 5 and 22. — AFP
Iraq forces hold town, refinery
New York
Bob Dylan’s
handwritten
manuscript for Like a Rolling Stone
sold for just over $2 million ($2.305
million) overnight at Sotheby’s
rock and roll auction, which also
included memorabilia from the
Beatles, the Rolling Stones and
Elvis Presley.
The price for the annotated lyrics
for Like a Rolling Stone, considered
one of the most influential songs in
post-war music, makes it the most
expensive rock music manuscript
sold at auction. It shattered the
previous record set in 2010 when
John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics
for A Day in the Life, the final
track from the 1967 album Sgt
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
sold for $1.2m. — Reuters
Bob Dylan song manuscript fetches $2m
Tokyo
A placid pet dog was being hailed
a hero after saving a five-year-old
boy from a mauling by a wild bear in
northern Japan.
The dog, a six-year-old shiba inu, took
on the metre-high bear after it attacked
the youngster during a riverside walk
with his great-grandfather.
The dog barked “ unusually loud”
and chased off the animal on Saturday
evening in Odate, some 550km north of
Tokyo, a local police spokesman said.
“The boy suffered slight bruises and
was taken to hospital but he was released
on the same day,” the spokesman said.
The boy’s
80-year-old great-
grandfather, who was a short distance
away near his car, raised the alarm.
Local media identified the dog as a six-
year-old bitch named Mego (Cute).
“Mego is usually calm and timid. It was
a great surprise that she chased away a
bear,” the dog’s owner told the Sports
Hochi daily.
“Mego has always been his friend and
we have rewarded her with meat and
other treats.”
The Sports Hochi reported that the
boy ’s clothes were torn and his back and
bottom were covered in scratches where
the bear had apparently clawed at him.
Asian black bears are native to large
parts of Japan, including the main
island of Japan, while brown bears roam
Hokkaido further north. — AFP
Dog saves boy by scaring off bear
Sydney
A man has had part of his nose bitten
off in an attack in one of Sydney ’s inner-
west suburbs.
The 38-year-old was assaulted at a
unit complex in Leichhardt about 5pm
yesterday (local time), and has since
undergone surgery to reattach his nose.
Police say the male offender bit part of
the man’s nose off, before running from
the Norton Street complex.
Detectives want to speak to anyone
who saw anything suspicious in the area
at the time. — AAP
Man’s nose bitten off in attack
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